Fool Me Twice
by AWarOfWords
Summary: Taking place just after Children of the Damned. Elena and Bonnie have been kidnapped by Ben and Anna, Damon has the Emily's spell book, Stefan unleashes his ultimate rescue plan. Damon is torn between Katherine and Elena. The tomb finally will be opened.
1. Chapter One: The Change

"You will cooperate," Ben told Elena with his compulsion as he slammed her against the hotel room wall.

"Nice try. The vervain I'm wearing says otherwise," Elena shot back at him. Ben, the high school football star and local bar tender, someone the town had known since he wore diapers—was now a member of Mystic Fall vampires.

Ben took a deep breath just before he ripped off the necklace Stefan had given her and shot it across the room. "Well my heightened senses say you will. So let's try this again. Are you going to cooperate?"

"Yes," Elena replied blankly.

"Great," Ben said rolling his eyes, "now go sit with your witch friend." He tossed her in the direction of the bed, where Bonnie sat stiffly. He then made his way over to Anna, who'd been studying the Gilbert journal all morning. It was coming close to 5p.m.

"Its not in here anywhere!" Anna chucked the journal at the nearby wall.

"Careful!" Elena warned.

"Oh shut up." Anna said with total disregard of her. She slouched into the wall with defeat. "All that it said was that Daddy Salvatore would take it to his grave."

"Well maybe he literally took it to his grave," Ben answered in a 'duh' sort of tone.

"That's too obvious kid. Try again."

"Well soooorry. Why don't we just _ask_ the Salvatore girlfriend then? The brothers are trying to open the tomb too, remember?"

"But we have the journal, Ben," Anna was starting to question her judgment in turning Ben. Maybe someone with a bit more brains next time.

"Yeah," Ben agreed but quickly added, "You said Damon left saying he knew where to look."

"She's with Stefan though, and Damon doesn't trust his brother. Use your brain."

Ben sighed and walked over to Elena, this would be easier than bickering with Anna. He stared deeply into her eyes, his pupils growing as he started his compulsion.

"Do you know where Emily's book is?" He asked.

"Yes," she replied with that same blank stare she wore just minutes ago.

"Well where is it?"

"Damon has it."

"See," he said turning to Anna now. "I'm not totally worthless."

Anna got up from her seat on the floor, walked over to Ben, and planted a deep, rewarding kiss directly on his lips. "I love it when you prove me wrong."

. . . .

"Damon, I beg you, please help me find her," Stefan pleaded with his brother one last time.

"Well now that you said 'please,'" Damon retorted. "I'll help you juuuust like you helped me. How does that sound, _brother_?" He said the last part through clenched teeth. If he wasn't on his way to find Bonnie, he'd end his brother right here and right now. Right outside of The Grill.

"It was for your own good Damon. If you open that tomb you'll release all of them, not just Katherine." Stefan argued as he chased after his brother.

"And they'll all be starved and weaker than babies, big deal. I can handle that, I don't live off bunnies Stefan."

"When you bring Voldemort back you get all his little death eaters, too. And just because they are out of practice doesn't mean they can't run past you!"

"Ohh Harry Potter reference, how modern of you Stefan. Nobody will ever guess you're a blood sucking chronic liar." Damon didn't see Bonnie or her car anywhere, yet. Asking Elena was out for the moment, he'd have to get her later. She had his blood in her so if Anna tried to kill her, she'd be fine.

"I'm not a liar," Stefan defended himself like he was back in the fifth grade.

Damon immediately hit the brakes on his speed walk and turned around to face his brother. He glared at his with such intensity that he saw Stefan trying to divert his eyes out of discomfort. "Really? Well let's see then. You lied about," he began counting on his fingers, "when you met Elena, what you really are, about Elena looking like Katherine, about helping me, and here's the best one; you lied when you promised me you wouldn't tell our _father_ about Katherine. So the survey says: you're just one lie after another."

"That's not fair Damon. I did what I had to with Elena at the times. And I didn't tell—"

"I don't care!" Damon was starting to lose all his patience. "Unless you know where---" Caroline caught his eye mid sentence. She would know where Bonnie was, or at least have the witches phone number.

Using his vampire speed, he flashed across the street to directly in front of Caroline. "Where's Bonnie?" He demanded while using his compulsion.

"Hello to you too Damon," Caroline shot back at him.

Damon look down to see her necklace, probably holding vervain just like Elena's. "Great," he mumbled and rolled his eyes. He'd have to do this the polite way. "Elena has been looking for Bonnie, do you know where she is?" He tried using his most sincere face.

"I don't know, I've been looking for her too. She was _supposed_ to call me after her date with Ben last night," Caroline replied like it was gossip.

Ben. Anna's new play toy. If they had her then they were probably on their way to the tomb. "Thanks," he said just before he took off at a normal jog. Once he was out of sight from anyone he took off at full speed vampire style to the tomb.

. . . . .

"Just sit down by the tree and shut up!" Anna ordered Elena, who'd been filling Bonnie in on the story of last night.

"Sooo, what do we do now?" Ben asked impatiently. They'd been waiting outside the Fell's Church for almost an hour now. Damon hadn't shown up, Bonnie kept rambling on about hour her powers weren't working, Elena just kept talking, and he hadn't fed since before his date with Bonnie last night.

"We keep waiting. Damon won't keep us long once he realizes Bonnie is missing," Anna smirked.

"Mind if I snack while we wait?" Both Bonnie and Elena stiffened when they heard him say that.

"No feeding on the witch, she's gonna need her strength," Anna sighed. She kept forgetting that Ben oddly enough needed blood more frequently than she did.

"But Elena is fair game right?" He was starting to get excited now; the rich taste of Elena's blood sinking down his throat sounded like heaven. He was already starting to make his way to her.

"Just don't drain her. We've got some starving vampires to set free who'll be needing a quick bite," Anna laughed. She couldn't wait to get into the tomb and see Pearl again. This had been way too long in the making.

While Anna was pondering her reuniting with Pearl, Ben had made himself friends with Elena's soft, silky smooth neck. He didn't make it hurt like he typically did, a struggle was fun but he really wanted to enjoy this. Her blood was the sweetest he'd ever had, and was way better compared to that stale crap he'd been drinking out of bottles. Every drop of blood flowed warmly down the path of his throat and into the depths of his hunger, begging him to take just a little bit more. She was limp in his arms, but not near death, he was being careful. Or trying to be at least.

Just as he'd lifted his head, he was pulled from behind and thrown across the field right into some stranger's headstone.

"NOT a good move," Damon screamed at the Anna's little minion. He bent down to pick up Elena from the ground. She was still alive, but not by much. He was still extremely pissed she lied to him, but he'd done a lot of things in the name of love that pissed people off. He wasn't just going to let her die, something in his heart just wouldn't let him. He bit his wrist and nuzzled it in-between her lips and made sure she was swallowing it.

While Elena gained her liveliness back, Damon glared back up at Ben—who was just now fumbling to his feet. The kid was probably still buzzing off Elena's blood, he had no idea that he wasn't going to have to enjoy it. Why was he getting so defensive over Elena? She was just a human, right? Yeah, right. Damon could lie to anyone, anyone but himself.

She was finally starting to regain her strength and that meant reject taking his blood any more.

"Damon?!" Elena questioned in disbelief once she'd successfully rid her mouth of his wrist. Of course she'd be surprised, Stefan was the one who did the rescuing.

"Don't make anything of it," he replied while helping her up. What she did next completely caught him off guard.

"I'm so sorry!" She leapt up and threw her arms around his neck, completely clinging to Damon. He knew she felt bad about lying, it was written all over her face last night, but this was out of character for her.

"Like I said," he pulled her off of him but kept his hands on hers, "don't make anything of it."

Damon turned his attention to Anna, who was staring in amusement at him. "So are we gonna get to this or what?" He didn't wait for a response from anyone, just started making his way into the church. When he glanced back to see who had followed him, he noticed Elena being pulled along by Anna. If she came with them then she'd get killed the second that tomb was opened. Bonnie shouldn't be along the ride either but she was needed.

"Elena," Damon started as he appeared in between Anna and Elena, "won't be coming with us."

" She's leverage," Anna stated harshly and put herself in-between Damon and Elena. "Just incase your _darling brother_ shows up, or you step out of line." She smiled deviously and took the lead, leaving Damon and Elena in the middle and Ben with Bonnie in the rear. "Hurry up!"

"Damon listen," Elena grabbed his shoulder in hopes to stop him, but he just shook her off. "Would you stop for second!"

"Save it. There's nothing Stefan told you to tell me that's going to stop me from opening this tomb."

"I have a mind of my own, ya know." Elena shoved him as hard as she could, which of course was nowhere near as powerful as need be. In return, Damon grabbed her shoulders and shoved her up against the stonewall. He looked down into her eyes, not to compel her and not really with much anger, he looked confused more than anything.

"Do you really think that Katherine is just going to want to be with you when you release her, Damon?" Elena tried saying that in the nicest, most sincere way she could, but now Damon really was mad. He probably hadn't thought of that yet. He'd spent his whole vampire life loving Katherine when she just bounced from guy to guy.

"Elena is right Damon," Anna jumped in the argument. "You loved Katherine, but she just loved toying with you. She loves the game Damon; I'm surprised you haven't picked up on that after all these years. But I guess it's hard to see the truth when you've been compelled for so long," that last part she added with a bit of a cocky laugh.

"I wasn't compelled!" Damon snapped at Anna so loud that even Ben and Bonnie jumped with fear.

"I traveled with Katherine long before you met her, Damon," Anna was getting defensive now. "She compelled _everyone_! She never loved, but if you were fun to play with then she'd change you so she could come back if she got bored."

"Damon, Stefan isn't the reason I don't want you to go into the tomb. I—"

"You what, Elena? Suddenly you realize you care for me now? Or let me guess, you realize you love me and that's why you don't want Katherine out." Damon rolled his eyes in irritation. He was hurt mainly because that's what he _wanted_ to hear, but he knew he'd never. She was Stefan's; despite how much he lied to her time and time again. What Anna didn't understand was that he was doing to Katherine exactly what she would have done to him. He was lonely and bored, the only person he'd had a connection with more than just for blood was caught up in his brothers deception.

"Damon. . ." Elena cooed. She twisted her arms up and around his neck and smiled shining all that spunk she knew Damon loved. "I thought you promised you wouldn't read my mind."

"Cute Elena," Damon said sarcastically, not believing anything she said. He pulled her arms off of him and turned away to continue down the tomb. He heard Elena sigh in anger and grab hold of his shoulder. Reluctantly he let her turn him around and was surprisingly greeted by her soft angelic lips on his.

Around him he heard everyone in the tomb gasp, in his head he was in complete astonishment as well. Not only was she kissing him but he was kissing her back and actually letting himself get lost in it. Katherine, the women he'd loved for 100 plus years, the focal point of all his diabolical plans, was only a few twists and turns away. Yet he was getting lost in a kiss from someone else.

"Elena stop," he whispered as he broke their kiss. "After all this I'll be sure to tell The Academy where to ship your award." He couldn't let her know he liked it, love it. He'd dreamed about that kiss, but he'd also dreamed about Katherine.

"Damon!" Elena was furious. She opened up to him and now he was shooting her down! She wasn't lying; this was something she'd been dying to do ever since their road trip, probably before then too. Stefan was great and always there to save her and comfort her, but he was also always there to lie to her, always. "I'm not wearing my necklace, I'm vervain free. If you don't believe me just do you're favorite little mind trick."

"It doesn't matter," he already did believe her, "Katherine and Pearl," he shot a look at Anna, "are waiting."

. . . . .

The tomb was filled with twists and turns, narrow passage ways and of course, no map. Anna seemed to know her way pretty well so it seemed. They only made one wrong turn so far and she picked up on it almost immediately.

The group was quiet most of the way. Bonnie was worried that her powers weren't back and if they were, she'd probably be killed. Ben was pissed at Damon for interrupting his snack, and Damon had been trying to keep his distance from Elena—but was failing miserably.

He was starting to doubt wanting to open the tomb. All he could think about was Elena and being close to her again. He'd been so sure of himself and his plan before, her lying to him only proved his motives more desperate. But now she'd chosen him over Stefan, the very thing he'd wanted since he first laid eyes on her. He was completely torn. Katherine was a game, on both ends now. Elena was love; she saw through him and brought out his good side.

Anna and Damon stopped abruptly in a large circular room. Elena smacked right into Damon's back; she was so caught up in her frustration that she didn't see him stop. He circled an arm around her slender waste and pulled her close beside him. Catching a glimpse of his face now, she saw that he was staring wide-eyed and terrified at a huge stone door masked in dirt and roots from above.

Next to that door stood, slouched on a wall, his face dimly lit by a torch in the wall next to him was. . . .

Stefan.


	2. Chapter Two: Welcome Back

"Hello brother," Stefan smirked in a way that resembled his brother.

"You can't stop us from getting in the tomb, Stefan," Anna glared at him with eyes that could kill. "I'll snap mini Katherine's neck if you try. Best part it is, nobody will ever notice a difference once the tomb is open. Katherine will just take her place, it'll be perfect."

Stefan didn't budge a bit. No flinch or hint of despair. Whatever game he was playing, he was doing a damn fine job of it.

Damon, on the other hand, protectively moved himself in front of Elena, keeping a hand on her hip so that if Anna tried to grab her he'd know.

"I'm not here to stop you, I'm here to help. You didn't think you were the only one who wanted Katherine back did you Damon?" Stefan walked right over to Damon and stood no more than an inch from his face. "Obviously Elena can't choose either, so we can just let her and Katherine swap." It was clear in his face that Stefan was having trouble forming the words. He wasn't his brother; this bad boy act didn't fit well.

"You're lying brother, again. You're just pissed that Elena finally had enough of it," Damon shot back at him.

While the brothers were bickering, Anna had slid the spell book out of Damon's pants and found the spell they needed.

"I told you," Bonnie pleaded, "my powers aren't working. This isn't going to work."

"If it doesn't, I'll kill you right here right now. If it does, I'll make sure you're not dinner when the door opens. Now lets try." Anna shoved the book into Bonnie's hands on the correct page.

Bonnie closed her eyes and tried breathing deeply. She had to stop her nervous shaking and focus her mind on the task that she really did not want to do. Stefan and Damon, hopefully Damon, would help keep the town safe if she did go through with this. Her Grams would understand and try to help too. The vampires would be weak with hunger and easy to defeat too right? Most of the town was unknowingly ingesting high doses of vervain daily that would help. It was better the tomb be opened now while the town was alert and ready, right?

With reassurance in her mind now, Bonnie had stopped shaking and become completely focused on the job at hand. Her eyes scanned the old, worn pages open to her and memorized the few lines she needed to repeat, three times exactly.

Anna and Ben held hands, praying that this would work. Elena, Damon and Stefan were completely oblivious and submerged in their argument. Bonnie had just finished muttering the Latin phrase for the spell the last time. She closed her eyes and slammed the book shut.

The door started to move and everything in the cave fell silent. Damon whispered for Elena to stay behind him and she obeyed.

A slender white hand curled itself around the edge of the door and shoved it far enough open for a body to get through. Emerging from the crevasse was the beautiful and long awaited, Katherine. Wearing the same dress she'd been trapped in, only now it was torn and wore its own layer of dirt and dust. She was very composed for a vampire who hadn't eaten in over a century. She walked gracefully and slowly, searching the room until her eyes fixed upon Stefan and Damon.

"I knew you boys would pull through for me," Katherine smiled gracefully at them both then got a half crazed, hungry look on her face. "You brought me a snack." She pushed Damon aside and saw essentially her own face staring right back at her. She couldn't understand how this was possible. The girl standing before her resembled her almost to the t. Same hairline, eyes, lips, hair color, body figure, everything.

"Katherine," Damon said calmly, stepping in front of Elena protectively.

"Damon, who is this? Why does she resemble me so perfectly?" Katherine demanded. She only had a lose grip on the sanity left in her mind and this wasn't helping preserve it.

"We think," Stefan finally joined in, "that she's a distant relative of yours Katherine." The calmness that normally resided in Stefan's voice was now shaken. He'd told himself for years that what he felt for Katherine was purely compulsion, but now, seeing her alive again brought everything back. He had to keep reminding himself, as she stood so beautifully in front of him, that she'd toyed with his heart way back when and he kind of had Elena now.

"Sweet Stefan," Katherine stroked the side of his face, "if she's family than I can't drain her. But I can't have someone else walking around with my face, now can I? I'll just have to kill her."

"No!" Both Stefan and Damon said at once, sliding in front of Elena for protection.

Katherine looked them both up and down, a look of astonishment enclosed upon her face. "You both have fallen for her haven't you?" They both looked guilty. "Damon," she traced the outline of his face, "I never expected you to wait for me, you knew all along my plans. But to fall in love? Apparently I taught you nothing." She turned her attention to Stefan. "But you, I always thought you'd wait. If not out of love then out of guilt for poisoning me and getting me caught down here in the first place."

"I didn't know that I was poisoning you," Stefan muttered sheepishly.

"Oh stop acting like the bunnies you eat Stefan. Take a stand for yourself," Damon said to him, trying to be brotherly. Katherine was everything he imagined, arrogant, selfish, beautiful and alive. But she was nothing he wanted now.

"Damon's right, Stefan. If there was one thing I never admired about you it was your timid sense of being," Katherine added haughtily.

"How did you guys stand her," Elena muttered under her breath. Katherine was beautiful and elegant but a total selfish bitch. Elena could be a bit biased though, Katherine did mention wanting to kill her just a minute ago.

"Excuse me?" Katherine questioned, shoving both boys aside. She caught the angry glares of both of them and just laughed. "Even starved I'm stronger than both you boys, don't bother trying." She focused back on Elena, who was standing boldly in front of her. "What did you say about me?"

Elena was panicking in her mind, totally freaking out. She was probably going to die, right now. From the stories she'd heard of Katherine, she'd most likely kill her. Unfortunately, Elena didn't bring any pencils to fight back with like she did before. Maybe if she showed how bold and. . .spunky she was, Katherine would wait on killing her. It was worth a shot at least.

"I said that I don't understand how Damon and Stefan put up with you for so long. You're a complete. . .bitch." Might as well go out fighting.

"We'll see what you think when I—"

Stefan and Damon both leapt for Katherine, to stop her, but it was too late. They heard Elena's neck snap and saw her lifeless body fall to the ground.

"Well that solves one problem," Katherine said while pretending to wipe her hands clean. She was proud of what she'd done; it was exactly how she took care of all her problems. Or use to, before she'd been locked up.

"I'm sorry Katherine," Damon said somberly, the softest look on his face as he slowly approached her.

"It's alright my dear Damon. We're all here now."

"I'm sorry Katherine," Damon repeated. His brother glanced over at him suspiciously, wondering what his motive was. Clearly just moments before Damon had shared feelings for Elena, and now he was apologizing to Katherine.

"You said that already dear," Katherine replied, "Now open the door a bit more and let poor Pearl out. She's the only one left. We killed everyone else to survive."

Stefan was frozen in his place; he was disgusted by what she'd done. No renewed feelings could atone for killing innocent Elena. He wouldn't forgive her like Damon apparently has.

Anna, standing in disbelief finally snapped to and obeyed Katherine. She was finally going to see Pearl again! It was a bit disappointed that they wouldn't be able to reek havoc on the town with all the starved vampires, but they had enough to cause some mayhem.

Pearl walked out of the tomb wild-eyed, like she was in a dream state. She never thought she'd ever breath fresh air again, let alone see her Anna again. She longed to hug her, make sure she was real, but she was too starved to get close to anyone or thing she wasn't ready to kill. Looking over at Katherine, Pearls eyes witnessed something she thought to be more rare than escaping this tomb.

"Go to hell Katherine," Damon pulled at hidden stake from his back pocket and with every ounce of strength he had, emotionally and physically, he drove it straight through her heart. He'd loved her so long, pined for her and plotted to bring her back, but it wasn't worth it. Katherine wasn't worth Elena's life.

Everyone looked at Damon, jaws dropped so low they made friends with the floor. Stefan put his hand on Damon's shoulder to comfort him, he knew too that it needed to be done. Pearl looked like she was going to die herself, tears were freely falling from her eyes.

Anna had started clapping and Ben followed, although he had no idea why he was. She was smiling brightly like she was happy and relieved.

"About time someone staked the bitch," Anna laughed.

"Wh-wh-what about Elena?" Bonnie managed to stammer out between her hysteric tears.

Damon turned around to look at his lifeless love, she couldn't be dead. There was no way this could happen. As a single tear trickled down his cheek he remembered possibly the most important forgotten detail in years. He turned to the others with his classic patented smirk and said, "She'll be fine."

The looks across everyone's face was the same: Damon had finally gone completely crazy. They had all just witnessed, minus Pearl, Katherine snapping Elena's neck. She wasn't coming back.

Damon sat on the ground next to Elena and cradled her in his lap. He stroked her hair gingerly, patiently waiting for her return to the living world.

"She's dead Damon," Stefan said through freshly falling tears. He'd given up, admitted defeat. He didn't even look back at everyone was he started his journal outside the cave with Pearl, to get her something to drink.

Not long passed before Damon's prediction came true. Elena's hand rubbed her neck as her eyes opened slowly.

"Ugh, why does my neck hurt so bad," she said groggily. Damon kissed her forehead softly and continued to stroke her hair to comfort her. It'd probably take a few minutes for her to become completely aware of what happened.

Stefan stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn't believe his brother would do something so idiotic! Elena wasn't meant for the undead life style.

"You idiot!" He yelled at Damon. "I ought to rip your throat out for forcing her into this!" With that he lunged for his brother's throat.


	3. Chapter Three: Hand Grenades

Bouncing off the balls of her feet, Anna sprung into the air and smacked into Stefan, knocking him off track and pinning him to the ground.

"Get a grip Stefan," Anna yelled, "She's alive, kind of, you should be happy."

"She never would have wanted this life!" Stefan screamed through his furious tears, struggling to break a hold he had no chance of freeing from.

"She'll get use to it. She'll be fine," Anna argued, "You got use to it, Damon did, I did, and so will she."

"No she won't!" Stefan was still struggling against Anna's grip.

"I'm right here guys, I can hear you," Elena finally chimed in, having heard enough bicker about her own life and how she would or would not handle something. She was still very dim on what happened—what they were arguing about, or where she was for that matter. A hand was stroking her hair softly and she was in someone's lap, wherever she was. She reached up and grabbed the hand she'd felt and immediately knew who it was.

"Damon?" she whispered.

"Yours truly," he replied with a radiant smile and gave her hand a little squeeze.

With a little help from Damon, Elena managed to sit up and look around. Bonnie was backed up against a wall, looking like she'd seen a ghost. Ben was beside her staring at. . . Anna pinning Stefan to the ground. Elena's neck, which felt like its own person, felt like it alone got hit by a semi-truck on the autobahn.

"What the hell happened?" She questioned to anyone who was willing to give her an answer.

"Nothing," Stefan answered quickly as he brushed the dirt from the ground off him. Anna had finally let him go once he stop struggling but she wasn't putting any distance between them.

He looked over at Elena, the same Elena he'd loved and kept safe since he came back to Mystic Falls. She was still beautiful and radiant; her eyes were a bit deeper now though, her skin was so smooth it looked unreal, the same with her hair. As much as it overjoyed his heart that she was breathing and moving and alive rather than helplessly dead on the floor like Katherine, it pained him to know that she had to live like this. To live like he did, dependant on blood and in constant secrecy. There was still the chance she'd choose to die all over again by not feeding on human blood and he'd have to watch her die again.

If she chose to continue living as a vampire it wasn't all bad. She could adopt a diet like he did, he could teach her and help her. He'd never have to see her die again. As Stefan thought of all this a smile began to grow on his face but quickly faded away again. The true reason he was angry, he finally realized, was that Damon had been the one to change her.

"Are you gonna lie to her even in her afterlife Stefan?" Damon asked, a bit disgusted in his brothers constant need to hide everything from Elena. She was a grown girl with, like she said to him earlier, a mind of her own. She could handle the truth, and if not then she had the right to know it anyway.

"Damon," Elena said sternly, demanding with her eyes some answers that apparently Stefan was keeping from her. Big surprise.

"Damon don't, not yet," Stefan pleaded. Soon enough she'd remember anyway, he figured it'd be best not to worry her just yet.

Damon shot Stefan a glare and then turned to Elena. "Well Katherine," he pointed to her lifeless body, "Killed you." Elena gasped as she followed his figure to the dead Katherine. "Don't worry," Damon stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, "She's completely dead now. But the blood I gave you earlier was still in your system when you died. Sooo. . " he trailed off to let her mind connect the dots.

It didn't take Elena more than a second to follow his train of thought. A stark realization crossed her face but she wasn't afraid like Stefan had assumed she would be. Nor did she completely freak out either.

"So I'm a vampire now?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"She's smarter than I gave her credit for," Anna laughed.

"Back off Anna, remember how you felt when you changed," Damon growled at her. "You okay Elena?" She looked okay, but she also had an excellent poker face he'd learned.

"I know I have to," she paused for a moment, "_feed_ on a person first but after that I can choose right?"

"Yes, of course," Stefan said as he rushed to her side now. His undead heart was racing now. If she chose his way of living she'd probably choose to be with him too. "I can teach you and help you control your---"

"I know Stefan," Elena cut him off sweetly. "Damon," she said turning to him, "if I didn't, you know, feed like you do, would you hate me?"

Damon was taken back by her question. How could she really think he'd hate her? He loved her, but she probably wasn't aware of it yet. He'd been so headstrong about getting Katherine back. But _hating _her, that was flat out of the question.

He brought his hand up to the side of her face, cupping it and bringing her closer to him slowly. He saw that beautiful smile cross her face just before she closed her eyes, she knew his answer now. With a slight tilt of his own head, he closed the distance between their mouths. Her lips were like an angel's pressed against his, he found himself wanting to pull her closer to him so that their bodies pressed against each other, but part of him was aware of his brother sitting so close and probably being more heartbroken by the second.

Against his better judgment he broke the kiss and looked back into her eyes. They were both smiling like complete dorks, high on emotions that should have been ignited forever ago.

"I can hate my brother all I want," he laughed, "but hating you would be impossible."

Elena just smiled, no knowing what else to say, any other words would just ruin the moment. She rested her head against his and just sulked into every intense feeling of happiness she could hold in her small frame. She felt like nothing could ruin this until she saw Stefan out of the corner of her eye.

He looked terrible, his face revealed his heartache so painfully that Elena could have cried. Actually, she did let go of a tear or two. Everything in her that was once on fire just froze.

"Stefan, I'm so sorr—"

"I guess the tables have turned Damon," Stefan said bitterly, avoiding at all costs looking at Elena. He got up, hiding his face from everyone else in the tomb, and made his way into the tunnel hall.

"Stefan wait! Please just stop," Elena chased after him. Maybe if she could just talk to him, explain. . . well there was nothing to explain really. She just wanted to ease his ache, take it all away like Damon had done to Jeremy.

"Bonnie, I'll take you back to your Grandmother's if you want?" Stefan was still avoiding Elena at all costs.

Bonnie walked up to Elena at first, wanting to assure her best friend that everything would be alright. Vampire or not, Elena had been there for her through everything and anything.

"He'll come around, just give him time," she told her best friend sympathetically. Bonnie started to move in to give Elena a hug but quickly backed away. "Sorry. . .you understand right? You need human blood, I'm a human. Just doesn't seem like a good idea." She frowned and started off behind Stefan.

Elena felt completely defeated. Her best friend was afraid of her, she crushed Stefan in the worst possible way, and had to find someone to drink from. Just this once. Then it was the "Stefan Diet" for her. But right now she was just crushed, she'd been so high and in minutes all the bad just bitch slapped her. Excellent.

Damon's arms slithered around her waist and pulled her close to him. Against him she felt safer, l like her own sanctuary where everything else just went on mute for a while.

"It'll be alright," he whispered and kissed her neck.

Behind them, Ben tapped on Anna's shoulder.

"What?" She asked, irritated at his disturbing her eavesdropping.

"Uhhh. . . where's Pearl?"

A look of pure fear spread out all over Anna's face, the first time Ben had ever seen her calm broken.


	4. Chapter Four: Fooled

**I just wanted to add a note to all my avid readers – you guys are awesome! I honestly only planned on taking this story to Chapter Two, but I'm a sucker for compliments and pushes to do more. **

* * *

"Damon is incapable of loving any thing or any one," Stefan muttered angrily to Bonnie for the third time. He knew deep down that Bonnie had the best of intentions but he just didn't want to talk about it, or think about it. Brooding just reminded him of his brother's mockery and that brought the happy little torture thought train right back to Elena.

"I don't think that's completely fair, Stefan. He's got his down sides but he seems to really care about Elena," she paused wondering if she should add in her last thought. "He did. . .after all. . .kill Katherine in her honor."

Stefan planted himself directly in front of Bonnie to stop her from walking and automatically forced her to look into his eyes.

"Damon never does _anything_ for anyone else. There's always some plan underneath that only benefits him."

"Then why did you walk out without a fight? Why'd you just leave Elena in the heart of the lion's den?" Bonnie question, arms folded over her chest. She didn't buy what he was selling. Stefan cared way too much for Elena to just leave her in harms way like he said he did.

"Because Bonnie, if I show how upset I am and just walk away then Elena will come back because she feels bad, because she's a caring person. And she'll keep coming back and keep trying to comfort me until I'm okay, its who she is. And eventually Damon will get sick of it and reveal his new master plan."

"That's no you Stefan," Bonnie wasn't the least bit fooled. Stefan was hurting but was trying to mask it like Damon does, with pretending like he had his own awesome master plan.

"I know," he replied with a sigh of discontent. "But if it helps me sleep at night then why not." With that he turned around and started again at finding their way out of the tomb.

"Stefan, I just think—" Bonnie was cut off by a gust of wind flying by her and nearly knocking her off her feet. She grabbed the wall beside her to regain her balance and search around her for the cause of the wind.

"Bonnie," Stefan's voice was thriving with alertness and a hint of warning. "You can either wait here for the others to catch up, or hop on my back so I can get us out of here. Fast."

Bonnie started to ask why but Stefan cut her off. "That was Pearl. And at that speed combined with her not waiting for Anna it means she desperate for blood. Desperate means she could hurt someone or expose us all."

"Crap," Bonnie sighed and jumped up onto Stefan's back. "Let's go."

* * *

"Why would she just leave?" Anna was in a pure panic. Frantically she was pacing the small space, running her hands through her hair and repeating, "Why would she just leave?"

"Maybe she got sick of Edward and Bella over here," Ben said with an unexplained sense of bitterness dribbled in his words.

"Ugh," Elena and Damon replied in unison.

"I could take Edward without working up the slightest thirst," Damon boasted. As the book depicted him, Edward was weaker than even Stefan and way more whipped. "And Bella doesn't even compare to this beauty here," he said scooping up Elena in his arms and lifting her off her feet.

"Cute guys real cute," Anna sarcastically snipped. "But let's focus on the real issue at hand: Pearl!"

"Well you could always," Damon paused for a moment for a dramatic effect, "go after her. Duh!" He added the 'duh' with a mocking facial expression to emphasize. "The longer you wait the farther she gets."

Anna took a moment to contemplate the simplicity of what he said and let it all dawn on her. "Why didn't I think of that," she whispered to herself in anger.

She grabbed Ben's hand and raced out of the tomb to search for Pearl.

"That happened faster then I'd planned," Damon chuckled. He put Elena back on the ground and walked over to Katherine's dead body. Her face, or what was left of it now that it'd started deteriorating, shook his head and laughed softly to himself.

"Sucks for you," he said to the dead body as he bent down and took the small silver ring with a lapis lazuli stone set from her finger.

"You'll need this," Damon turned to Elena and put the ring on her finger. "I can't let you burn up in the sun now that I have you all to myself." They both laughed a little uncomfortably. Elena felt a pinch guilty still and Damon wasn't in the business of making her feel worse.

"And now that we're alone," he said slyly with his classic mischievous while slowly backing her up against the wall. "Finally," he added devilishly as he lowered his head towards Elena's.

"So _that_ was your real plan," Elena teased as she closed the distance between their mouths slightly, but not quiet all the way.

"It's very possible," he whispered. If this was a dream, some kind of sick torture put on by his mind to make the life he'd wake to more miserable, then he prayed he'd never wake up. This was everything he wanted, _she_ was everything he ever could possibly want. Now, by some luck or fate, he could spend eternity with her.

Damon leaned forward to close the distance between them, he felt the spark of their lips touching, that euphoric feeling he hadn't thought possible without blood when. . . .

* * *

The town was so different that the one she'd once resided in. Katherine and herself had spent many years pondering and fantasizing about what the outside world had evolved into. If Katherine's eyes could see this, she'd be amazed. The night life was crazy with kids on the street, in the new shops that opened up in the center of town. No one wore the elegant dresses or petticoats any more. Everyone was in pants or highly revealing dresses. Katherine would love this.

Pearl didn't have much time to admire though, what she needed was to ease her hunger and the remedy was heavy hanging in the air. She had to be careful though, this was her first night out, no need to expose herself just yet. A plan was carefully formulating itself in her mind.

She was young and dirty; it would look like she'd been on the run or in some sort of trouble. Her dress was torn almost to shreds at the bottom to aid her troubled look. It was simple, she'd knock on someone's door in distress begging for just a place to sit for a moment, get the invite in and then drink.

Hopefully the houses she'd seen so long ago still held the occupancy of someone in those areas, otherwise she was utterly lost. With no more time to dwell or perfect her plan Pearl took off towards the old Gilbert house.

* * *

"Go directly home, don't invite any one in, okay?" Stefan whispered to Bonnie. They were crouched behind some trees a distance from Pearl, but Stefan had already spotted her.

Bonnie just nodded and watched Stefan run off into the night after Pearl. According to her orders, she was to wait until she counted to 60 to leave, just incase Pearl could still hear her. Stefan didn't want to leave her there, but she understood. Innocent lives were at stake with a hungry rabid vampire set lose in an unknown time age.

So the counting began.

* * *

* * *

"Who are you?" Damon growled at the strange women who'd wandered into the tomb. "And how the hell did you get in here?"

Elena was back up against the wall with Damon standing not even an inch from the front of her. Since she hadn't fed yet Damon was terrified that she would die for good this time. She tried to peak around him to see who was the threat now.

"You don't remember me?" The women's voice questioned playfully.

"Who are you?" Damon asked again, the intensity of his voice growing.

"I followed you back to this place, watched you for a while wondering what you could possibly want with this small town life." She paused for a moment to peak to see whom Damon was hiding. "Then I got bored. So I stayed above the church, waiting for you to come. When Anna found me, she clued me in on your little plan."

"Who are you?!"

"Next time you almost kill someone, make sure there aren't other vampires around to turn almost dead---into undead." She waited to see for a moment to see if he got it yet, when he didn't she decided to finish the thought for him. "I'm Isobel."

The sound rung through Elena's ears as she repeated mindlessly, "Isobel?"

* * *

"Hello?" A woman questioned as she opened the door of the house that stood where the old Gilbert house did. "Can I help you?"

"Help," Pearl cried, really playing up her damsel in distress act. "Someone, or _thing _was chasing me and I just—I just—" she cut herself off with her sobs.

"Come in, come in, you can use our phone," the women said with pure and real concern for Pearl. She ushered Pearl in, it was a shame since a kind women was going to end up dinner. To keep up her appearance, Pearl looked behind her anxiously like she was checking for the thing she told this lady was chasing her.

Maybe her story wasn't all fake. Standing outside on the steps was, staring up at her was Stefan. He was furiously shaking his head, silently begging her not to go in. Stefan and his high morals, still the same as always. Well, he wasn't stopping her this time. As she closed the door she heard him scream, "no!"


	5. Chapter Five: Young and Breathless

Damon turned his head slightly so that he kept Isobel in his sight but so he could also see Elena too. She looked distraught, confused, and apparently speechless. How could a name throw her off track so fast? It was just a name. It couldn't been the bit about him trying to kill her a while back, Elena knew he'd had a. . . bloody past.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Elena replied unconvincingly.

Isobel; her real mother's name was Isobel, her aunt Jenna _just_ told her this and now some ticked off vampire with the exact same name shows up. Too much of a coincidence. It would explain why she had just disappeared after and never tried to make contact again. Logically, most vampires would want to stay away from people who have been familiar enough with them that they'd notice changelessness.

But Isobel was kind of a typical name, maybe. Plenty of people were named that—none that Elena knew off hand though. That wasn't to say she knew everyone, but she did know most of the town.

Elena's head was spinning, too many thoughts, too many things happening at once to think about especially with the earthquake of a headache making a home inside her head. She stopped paying attention to what Damon and Isobel were talking about a while ago, all she focused on now were possible appearance hints and the headache monster.

Isobel had her same hair, straight, soft, and the same dark chocolate color. Their skin was the same olive tint and they both shared a small slender frame. Isobel's eyes were different though. Hers were a piercing vibrant green, so strong that they were glowing in the darkness. That wasn't enough though, plenty of people can share traits yet not be related.

"That was years ago," Damon uncaringly stated. "Why follow me so long? Why even bother?"

"You left me there for dead! That _wasn't _the deal," anger sulked heavily in Isobel's words. She'd been holding onto this grudge, sitting on it and letting it stir and build up, since that very night years ago.

"But you didn't die, and now you're a part of the very thing you were studying. I bet that would help your clients _tremendously_," Damon mocked with an annoyed smirk.

"People aren't so open to talking about their fear of vampires or their attacks _with_ an actual vampire."

"Wait, what?" Elena inquired, finally taking half a step out of the mental mayhem.

"I'm a vampire shrink—if you will. I help people cope with attacks and I do extensive research on the paranormal as a whole," Isobel informed Elena with a tone that suggested Elena should have already known this.

"So what," Damon shrugged, "don't tell them what you are. You'd be the best-informed researcher ever. You could interview yourself and never need to put on pants."

"But my clients wont come out at night because of us and because I don't have your magic sunblock thing, that's the only time I conduct business," Isobel sighed, her tough side simmering down a bit, but her bitterness was still full force.

"So what do you want now? I can't change you back if that's what you want, you should already know that." Damon's patience was wearing extremely thin at this point. She undead, big deal, she should embrace it and move on.

"I—"

"Damon," Elena interrupted. She didn't intend to be rude but this was pretty urgent.

"What babe?" He asked tenderly.

"Are my gums supposed to be killing me?" Her voice was polluted with pain, "and my head. It feels like a war going on inside."

"Geez Damon!" Isobel threw up her arms in disbelief. "You changed her too! Can't you keep your fangs to yourself for ten minutes."

"Shut up!" Damon yelled. Elena needed to feed, now. Just the pain in her voice rattled all the protective veins in his body. Nothing else mattered, she needed to feed and she needed it now and since they were lacking in supply down in the tomb, they needed to go find it. "Come on, lets go find you someone to eat."

"Ugh," she groaned at the thought of hurting someone, but at least she wouldn't have to kill them.

"I'm not leaving Damon," Isobel declared, deeming herself to be his own personal annoying fruit fly that constantly buzzes around his head.

"Great, cause I was soo enjoying our little chat," he threw back at his hoping that she picked up on his sarcasm.

Damon grabbed Elena's hand and started hurrying them out when felt Elena tug on his arm and stop.

"Wait," she said to him then turned to Isobel, "this is weird to ask, I know, but humor me." She waited till Isobel nodded for her to continue. "Did you ever have a kid?"

Isobel paused for a moment before responding. Her face immediately went from angry, annoyed and determined to pensive, sorrowful and a tad bit somber.

"I did once," she admitted, "but I gave her away."

That was all Elena needed to know for now. To peruse it further would take time she didn't have. She had her answer, or was a step closer to her answer now. Obviously Isobel wasn't going to leave any time soon either, so her time wasn't up. But it would be if she didn't get a. . . .drink first.

* * *

"Why are we here?" Elena asked as she stood outside the Salvatore house. Damon and Stefan only occupied it now; this didn't solve her problem at all.

"I've gotta make a call and I left my phone here," he said while opening the door.

"And you couldn't use my phone?" She asked anxiously. She just wanted to get this over with now, before she let her mind start dancing with morality again.

She tried to follow him into the house but an invisible barrier blocked her from going in. This was going to get extremely inconvenient.

"Uhh. . . Damon? A little help here?"

"Sorry, love," he came speeding back to the door to invite her in. After so many years of living like he did, he remembered he needed to be invited in but it wasn't totally written in his character to remember other people. He made a mental note to work on that.

"Would you like to come in?"

"I would love to," she replied with a bright smile and stepped through what was once a barrier.

"I'll be 2 minutes, tops," he assured her. "I've just got to remember where I put the stupid thing." Before he raced upstairs he gave Elena a quick kiss on the cheek.

Elena was having a hard time dealing with the pain throbbing through her head and into her gums. She could feel her teeth growing, getting stronger and sharper as well. Maybe Tylenol would help a little bit since she wasn't 100% changed yet. She made her way into the kitchen, thinking that's where her aunt typically kept the medicine.

After searching through a few cabinets she gave up and decided to just ask.

"Damon," she called up to him, knowing he could hear her easily. "Will Tylenol help with this headache?"

"No but coffee will," he replied from the upstairs. "We keep a bottle of water in the fridge for water, just incase the town decides to spike the supply."

"Thanks."

Elena opened the fridge to get out the water like he said. Before she noticed any bottles, a huge silver suitcase stole her line of sight. She looked around to see if Damon was coming yet, when the coast was all clear she took the suitcase out and put it on the table.

A little peak wouldn't hurt right? As she clicked open the locks all she could think was _please don't be drugs or some weird mutilated body._ She lifted the lid, bracing herself to see something completely disgusting when. . .

"Blood bags?" She whispered to herself as she picked one up. Elena checked out the label and the date of the blood to make sure it was good. It was human and it was better than hurting someone innocent. It was a bit odd that it was here considering Damon takes his blood and Stefan has his own special diet. But it was a loophole that fit some moral outlines.

There were a few straws in one of the pockets of the briefcase that pierced the blood bag perfectly. She'd almost completely sucked the bag dry, enjoying every drop despite what she'd prepared herself for, when Damon came down and saw her.

"Hrm, well I guess that works," he laughed and kissed the top of her head. Elena smiled nervously and started to close the case but Damon stopped her. "You might wanna have two. Bag blood is a bit stale, so it's best to double up."

Elena laughed a little bit nervously and picked out another bag to drink. Damon started putting on some coffee and laughed to himself a little bit. This was all too much like a dream, he was having such a hard time admitting it as reality.

When he turned back around, Elena had already finished the bag and put the suitcase back in the fridge. He caught her by the waist and pulled her right up against him, her cold skin against his warm. He gave her that classic smirk and then immediately kissed her. He'd been dying to have a uninterrupted moment alone with her since they first got into the tomb. Now, finally, almost 1,000 hours it seemed like later, he finally could.

"Now where were we?" He said for a brief second before kissing her again. Elena wound her arms around Damon's neck and he picked her up so she could wrap her legs around his torso. They started making their way into the living room when the sound of the front door slamming shut rattled the house.

"Dammit!" Damon muttered.

"Damon!" Stefan called, "We've got a," he stormed into the living room to see Elena and Damon, "problem."

"What?!" Damon had just about enough of these annoying interruptions.

"Elena……it's your aunt," he said somberly.

Elena jumped down from being hoisted up on Damon, but kept an arm around him for support. She felt like her legs were going to give out beneath her. _No, not Jenna_ she thought in terror.

"Pearl got loose and. . ."


	6. Chapter Six: Borrowed Mind

"What do you mean _'Pearl got lose'?_" Elena questioned, not exactly comprehending the words coming out of his mouth. This couldn't be happening. Through everything, Jenna had always been there, and despite her keeping Elena's adoption a secret, she'd always been like a safety net. Nothing. Could. Happen. To. Her.

"She's gonna be fine," he said, taking a step towards Elena. He wanted so badly just to reach out to her, hold her in his arms and comfort her the best he could. But that was his brothers place now, and they didn't have a lot of time to waste anyway. "I need to talk to Damon though."

Every bit of what Stefan had said immediately flipped the switch on Elena's anger. Her whole life, people had kept things from her—told her it was all going to be okay, to be a good girl and not worry about it. Elena was hell bent on making sure her afterlife wasn't like that.

Using a tiny bit of her newfound power, Elena slightly slammed Stefan against the closest wall and held him there.

"What happened to Jenna?" She said through clenched teeth. She was steaming mad, infuriatingly pissed off, passed boiling point. This is why she and Stefan couldn't work—he babied her, and by lying instead of toning things down.

Stefan grabbed her shoulders and with ease he gently pushed her back a few steps. For now he was still stronger than her and he intended to use that as nicely as he could.

"I told you, she's going to be fine," he kept his hands on her shoulders, hoping it would help convince her a bit more. "But I _need_ to talk to Damon."

"No, you _need_ to talk to me. Now tell me what happened to my aunt, Stefan!" She could feel her face changing, the veins around her eyes getting harder and more predominant.

"Pearl uh. . ." he took a moment to decide how he'd phrase things. "Pearl didn't kill her, but when I came in she ran off before clearing Jenna's memory."

"See the truth isn't so hard Stefan," Damon mocked, finally joining the conversation.

"That's. . .not all," Stefan admitted hesitantly.

Elena sighed, she was completely aggravated at how hard it was to get the full story from him.

"Jeremy saw. And now he's off to find _Anna_ to tell her that vampires are real."

"So she'll swipe his memory," Damon shrugged.

"And we should get to Jenna." Elena was wasting no time at all. As she said that they should go, she was also grabbing to doorknob to leave. Stefan grabbed her and pulled her back into the conversation before she got far though.

"Anna thinks _we_ have Pearl, and she's not exactly happy with that," Stefan warned, trying to easily convey that there's an exceedingly great possibility that Anna was going to hurt Jeremy.

Damon saw the anger in Elena's face quickly drop into fear. He'd been there before, and he remembered it well enough to know that if he didn't take charge within seconds she was going to do something completely irrational.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do. Stefan, you go find Pearl, talk to her _calmly_ and then call me. Elena, get Jeremy on the phone. Do whatever to get him back to your house, we're gonna meet him there and get everything fixed with him and your aunt."

Elena had already gotten her phone out and started dialing by the time Damon finished giving out orders. Stefan, however, stood around just staring at Damon.

"Stefan!" Damon yelled.

"Sorry," he chuckled slightly, "it's just weird seeing you take charge and—"

"Save your bromance babble for later, you've got stuff to do." The annoyance rung heavily in his orders, typically stuff like this wouldn't matter to him but because Elena was involved it was the most important matter at hand. Maybe after all this was fixed he'd finally get some time alone with her.

Stefan just laughed and shook his head as he took off out the door, Damon made a mental note to make him pay for that later.

"Jeremy pleeeease," Damon heard Elena plead on the phone. Apparently Jeremy was hellbent on telling Anna what he saw, if only he knew. "You can tell her later, please Jeremy." There was a long pause before she said anything again. "I'll see you there." She closed her phone and turned back to Damon for more directions.

Damon kissed her forehead and pulled her into his arms and just held her for a second. "We're going to fix this, I promise," he said to her lovingly, stroking her hair.

Elena just smiled and pulled back from the embrace so she could look him in the eyes, "What do we do now?" As much as she would have loved to stay there, wrapped in his arms all day, it was going to have to wait. Her brother's life and her aunts sanity was on the line.

"You ready to learn how to run?"

* * *

"I can't believe it, they are real! This town wasn't a bunch of cracked out lunatics back in the day, vampires really lived among them!" Jeremy was so excited as he explained everything to Elena, who was playing dumb to the whole situation. He could barely contain his excitement as he walked up the steps. There was a bounce in his step and a almost cartoonish smile plastered on his face.

"You don't say," Damon laughed, he'd never seen anyone so excited to know the things that go bump in the night really do go bump in the night.

"You knew didn't you Damon?" Jeremy asked once they got to the door. "You've known all along. I knew you were cool."

"Well duh," Damon said like it was a well-known fact.

"You've gotta tell me everything you know. All I know is the stuff written in the journals, but all of that is bad and you don't seem scared or anything so that must mean there's a good side. . ." Jeremy continued his fast pace enlightenment as he walked into the house.

Damon looked back at Elena so they both could share a little laugh at her brother's excitement. He grabbed her hand and after he walked through the door he felt her get rejected.

"Really?" She sighed in a playful whine. "My own house?"

"Sucks doesn't it?" Damon smirked, he leaned against the frame of the door toying with the notion that he could tease her with the invitation into her own house.

"Damon, please?" She begged, trying out the puppy dog face on him.

"Hmmm," he stroked his chin and acted like he was thinking, "What do I get for it?" There was that devilish smile of his again.

"What do you _want_ for it?" The puppy dogface quickly transformed into the seductive eyes and pouty lip look.

"Well---" he trailed off, scoring his thoughts of just her and him.

"Elena, get in here! Jenna is in the kitchen," Jeremy called to her from the hall.

"Look like I win," she said as her foot crossed over the doorway, adding her own devilish smile into the mix. Damon didn't let her too far in when he pulled her right up against him.

"So Jeremy and your aunt are safely in the kitchen," he started, "Stefan is out looking for Pearl," he paused as he moved her arms to around his neck and traced his fingers all the way down her soft smooth arms, down her sides until they found a resting spot on her hips. He saw her anxious smile form on her face, she was dying for him to kiss her and he was dying to oblige her but he wanted to tease her with it a bit more. "Since everyone is squared away and we are here alone, in this dark hall—"

"Oh shut up," she laughed, standing on her tiptoes she decided to take charge and kiss him. They'd been interrupted too many times to waste time, and he was right, they were all alone in the hallway.

The kiss was soft and sweat at first but gradually it got deeper, more urgent and demanding. Somehow Elena ended up pushed up against the wall Damon originally was leaning on. Her hands were knotted up in his hair and his hands were fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt, lightly tracing her bare skin under it.

As the kiss moved deeper and deeper, Elena felt the shivers running up and down her body when Damon moved his hands completely under her shirt, still on her hips though, and he slowly massaged the bare skin of her stomach.

"Wait," Elena muttered, trying to convince herself to pull away and land back in reality. Jeremy and Jenna were waiting in the kitchen; Jeremy beaming with excitement and Jenna was probably going mad out of her mind. "We'll finish this later."

Damon took a moment, his eyes closed and still pressing her against the wall, to come back to reality. "Fiiine," he groaned as he stepped back.

"I promise," she gave him a quick last kiss, smoothed out her shirt and hair, and then walked into the kitchen.

"You better," he laughed and followed her.

* * *

"So what do you want me to tell her?" Damon asked without breaking eye contact with Jenna. Right now he had her in a trance so that she didn't hear them deliberate.

"I don't know. Just that none of what happened tonight—"

"Wait, he's a vampire?!" Jeremy directed his question to Elena rather than asking Damon himself. He was a bit scared of Damon now.

"Why does _me _being a vampire freak you out?" Damon asked.

"I dunno—I just—you just—" Jeremy couldn't form a real reason in his mind. Or a real complete sentence for that matter.

"Because I had you fooled?" Damon mocked, knowing he hit the nail on the head.

"Damon," Elena said, trying to focus him back on her aunt.

"Kid you have no idea," Damon laughed. He caught Elena's glance and figured it was time to work.

"What is he doing to Jenna?" Jeremy asked. He was trying not to show his fear, but it was painfully obvious that he was pretty freaked out now.

"Elena," Damon gave her the look that showed his annoyance with Jeremy.

"Right. Uhm, you fix her," she said to Damon, "And Jeremy, I'll tell you everything, just come on." Elena dragged Jeremy into the living room, all the while hoping that he didn't ask too many questions. Just as they were standing in the kitchen she'd started noticing all the veins in his neck and the subtly burning in her throat. She knew she'd never do anything to hurt her brother but she didn't want to test it. This whole 'being a vampire' thing was all new to her, she wasn't full aware of how much control she held on herself.

Damon was just about done with Jenna now. Her mind wasn't too hard to rewire. Like most traumatized victims, their minds were fried and unclear of what they saw or what happened in the first place. He healed the bite mark on her arm with a little bit of his blood and convinced her that she suddenly got extremely tired while cooking dinner and decided she'd just need to go to sleep. He sent her off on her way to her room and started off to the living room, where he'd probably have to rewire Jeremy's mind, which was probably going to be much trickier.

As he turned the corner into the kitchen he heard a blood curling, ear shattering, scream. His whole body froze which the voice registered. It was Elena's scream. Elena was in trouble . . .

* * *

**I hope you guys like it! I'm trying to update as fast as I can cause I know how much it sucks to wait forever for updates. I'm not sure how far I want to take this at this point. I've got a whole awesome, intriguing plot mapped out in my head but I don't know how much you guys are willing to read. I know reading the same fanfic after a while can get a little boring. So I'd really love everyone's feedback on how far they'd like to read too, maybe what you'd **_**like **_**to happen, as well as obviously what you think ****.**

**So if you have time I'd greatly appreciate it.**

**You guys are AWEOMSE!**


	7. Chapter Seven: See the Lights

"Elen---Anna, pleasant seeing you here," Damon went from a full on run to dead halt once he got into the living room. It was not, in fact, pleasant to see Anna at all, not even the slightest bit. She had Elena pinned against the wall, a stake to her heart and apparently had previously shot Elena three times in the stomach with wooden bullets. Across the room Ben had Jeremy trapped in a headlock and waiting for Anna's commands.

"Bet you don't think vampires are cool now huh?" Damon said to Jeremy, trying to play it off like this scene didn't effect him, that it didn't make him want to rip Anna's head off for just laying a finger on his Elena. _Ugh, I sound like my brother_ he thought.

"Where's Pearl?" Anna demanded, threatening to drive the stake through Elena's heart without a single hint of remorse.

"I think this little party is crowded enough," Damon snidely remarked.

"Don't toy with me Damon, its not cute," Anna shot back cruelly. "And you know what else isn't cute?" She took her free hand to push one of the wooden bullets deeper into Elena's stomach. Elena let out an agonizing groan of pain, just what Anna had hoped for so that Damon could hear the real pain his girlfriend was in. "So let's try this again, otherwise you'll have two dead girlfriends. Where is Pearl?"

"Stefan is out looking for her," Damon replied dryly. He was pretty well practiced in acting like nothing affected him unless it was directly happening to him.

"Then call him," Anna wasn't impressed with his nonchalant attitude with all this. Pearl meant everything to her and she was in complete panic mode now that she couldn't find her. Pearl was pretty conservative with her diet typically but after being locked away in a tomb for over a century could temporarily change anyone. The cops and a select few people were aware of the presence of vampires, so if Pearl got a bit reckless there was a terrible chance that she'd get killed. That was something Anna just couldn't let happen.

"Call who?" Stefan asked, completely clueless to what he'd just stepped into. He looked around and couldn't believe what he saw. "What's this all about?"

"Anna's feeling all maternal for Pearl," Damon said while rolling his eyes.

"If I don't see Pearl soon, I'll kill Elena," Anna threatened, finally verbalizing what her actions had already said.

"Calm down," Anna said gracefully as she entered the scene. "I was just getting a bite to eat," she laughed.

"Oh goodie, family reunion," Damon said with his fake happy cheerful voice.

"Pearl!" Anna shrieked in happiness. She dropped Elena and flew across the room, clinging to Pearl. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Pearl responded, patting the top of Anna's head.

While they had their proper reuniting, Damon and Stefan ran over to help Elena, who was now hunched up on the floor. Damon rolled her over so he could hurry and pull the bullets out of her.

"Go figure, the first time I ever get shot is when I'm 'dead'," she used her fingers to make air quotes around 'dead.'

"Hold still, this is gonna hurt," Damon warned as he got ready to pull the first bullet out.

"Damon," Stefan gasped. He was taken back, Damon shouldn't have told her it was going to hurt, that's not what he would have done.

"What did you want to do this?" Damon joked as he finished pulling out the final bullet.

Stefan watched the whole thing, each bullet being pulled, Elena grabbing Damon's hand on the second one, Damon helping her up and holding her for a minute. Stefan felt like he'd been the one shot now, right in the heart. He couldn't stay around them any more; just those little gestures killed him to see. It was too painful, too fresh. The reason why she chose him was still unclear to him too.

"I—uh—I'm glad you're okay Elena. I should go," Stefan said quickly. Trying as hard as he could to get out of there fast, he didn't even wait for a response. He just turned around and immediately went for the door and left.

"I should talk to him," Elena finally said out loud, she'd been thinking it all night. Knowing that it had to be done eventually. She went to go after him but Jeremy's voice broke her concentration.

"You _too_, Elena?!" Jeremy exclaimed, finally breaking free from Ben's hold. He couldn't believe it, his own sister was one of them. How was he supposed to feel about that? They certainly didn't teach coping with this stuff in school. Maybe they should, it seemed like the town was swarming with them.

"I can explain," Elena tried pulling him to the couch so they could talk, but he kept flinching away from her every time she got close. "It was an accident."

"You accidentally turned into a vampire?" He repeated, not believing a word of it. "I don't really believe that, _sis_."

"Should we scrub his mind?" Damon asked.

"You mean that thing you did to Jenna? Are you gonna make me forget too?" Jeremy was getting more freaked out by the minute. He didn't want to forget or have someone messing around in his head.

"No, you have the right to know," Elena admitted, feeling terrible for throwing all of this paranormal stuff on him. He was just a kid; he shouldn't have to deal with all this. Nobody really should. But they were over there heads in it with no sign of light now.

"I think you should leave," Jeremy said, practically from the other side of the room again. "I've---I've got a lot to think about."

"Okay," she said a little bit heartbroken. She was hoping somehow he'd find it in him to understand.

"Come on," Damon grabbed her hand and started walking out the door like everyone else had already done.

Jeremy wouldn't look at them as they left. He couldn't tell if he was pissed at them for hiding everything, terrified that everyone he knew was pretty much dead, or violated that someone could toy with his head at any time.

When they got outside, Elena saw Stefan take off into her backyard. She figured that while she was already pretty down about her brother, she might as well do the other task that was going to depress her more.

"Hey," she said turning to Damon, "I'll meet you back at your house. I've gotta find Stefan."

Damon sighed a little bit but just shrugged it off, "Have fuuun," he said in a sing song voice just before he took off—vampire speed.

* * *

"Stefan," Elena found him sitting on the ground in her backyard. "Can we talk?" She asked kindly, sitting down next to him on the ground.

"Yeah, sure," he replied reluctantly.

"Its about Damon and I. . ." she trailed off completely unaware of exactly how to address this.

"It's okay," he stopped her before she could say anything else. He didn't want to hear her explanation, he already knew it. "You guys are good together," and he meant that. He didn't want to admit it or believe it, but it was clear as day.

Elena didn't know what else to say, nothing in her mind seemed right or appropriate any more. She should have known that Stefan wouldn't have been mad.

"I know it's cliché but. . .I don't want things to be awkward between us and you always rushing out. Do you think. . .we could be—"

"Friends?" He finished for her. "I'm taking it one step at a time, Elena," he pushed his hand through his hair just for something to do. Being so close to her and alone made him want to prove to her why he was better than his brother, but now wasn't the time. He was, however, working up a plan in his head to win her back. The three of them had all of eternity together now; the tables were bound to turn in his favor again eventually.

"Mkay," she tried not to sound disappointed, she really wasn't at all. He was trying to be fair and that was more than she really deserved.

* * *

"Welcome back," Damon greeted Elena at the door to his room. He'd been dancing around his room, shirtless, and drinking his favorite scotch just before she got back. He grabbed a bite on the way home and bottles some of it for Elena, he figured that was the nice vampire boyfriend should do.

"You started the party without me," she forced a smile past her exhausted state. All she really cared about now was curling up under a bunch of covers and sleeping for days.

"Here have a drink, it'll help," he already poured here a glass and handed it to him.

"I guess one glass wont hurt," she laughed, raising her glass like she was toasting and then downed the glass in one go. The liquid slid down her throat, warm and soothing, but not exactly what she was craving—which at the moment was sleep more than anything.

Damon wasn't willing to let her sleep yet, he was hyped up on everything that happened during the day. He grabbed Elena's glass and put it on the table for her so she had both hands free, dancing with stuff in hand was never fun.

She wasn't fully into it though, just swaying from side to side just to humor him.

"Sorry, Damon," Elena apologized as she sat down on his bed and took her shoes off. "I'm exhausted though. Maybe just a little nap," she'd already weaseled her way under the covers.

"Fiiiine," he flopped down on the bed next to her and perched himself up, resting his head on his hand. "But you owe me."

"I owe you?"

"From earlier, reemeeember," he teased, taking his finger under her chin and bringing her face closer to his.

"Oooh yeah," she closed her eyes, ready to kiss him when she felt the presence of someone else in the room. _Please don't be Stefan_, she thought as she looked to the foot of the bed.

"I told you I wasn't going away," Isobel stood at the foot of the bed, her arms crossed and looking like she was on one hell of a mission.

Damon threw his arms up and sank into the bed in defeat. "Did Stefan invite you in?"

She just nodded but kept her eyes fixed on Elena. "Why did you ask me about my kid? What do you know!" It was more of a demand than a question, and a threatening demand at that.

* * *

**Depending on what happens in tonight's episode on the Vampire Diaries, I'll decide how much farther I'll take this fanfic. I'm thinking the next chapter miiight be the last, not 100% sure.**


	8. Chapter Eight: Misguided Foes

_Because I think you're my real mother_ probably wasn't the immediate answer Isobel was hoping got, and Elena wasn't in any state to defend herself from being called crazy tonight. Or to explain everything for that matter. Damon wasn't much help deflecting either. For one; he was a little drunk, and two; every time he and Elena seemed to have some time alone—they got interrupted, and that apparently had taken a toll on his patience. He just laid next to Elena with his hands over his face steeping in his own frustration.

"Uhm. . ." Elena was trying to thin of something plausible and clever but all her mind said was: sleep. "I was just curious," was the excuse she decided on going with.

"Right," Isobel was smarter than to believe that. "Try again, honey."

As much as she didn't want to go through this now, there was really no way around it. She'd dug herself into a pretty deep hole.

"Did you have a girl at the Gilbert house, stay with them for a few days and then bailout for good?" Her words drained of all emotions, she wasn't really even looking at Isobel, just blankly staring at the ceiling. This was so not how she pictured this moment.

"I didn't just bail, I----yeah," Isobel admitted, questioning Elena with her eyes.

"I'm Elena Gilbert," she paused, wondering if she should drop the entire bomb right now. There wasn't really any other choice. "I'm your daughter."

Damon shot up straight, staring down at Elena. If this was true—somehow—then he unknowingly almost killed her mother. That's not exactly a major selling point or qualify him for any brownie points. And when did she find out she was adopted? Why hadn't she told him? How?

"Stefan figured it out and told me when you and I got back from Georgia. Jenna just confirmed it," Elena could tell Damon was asking himself all about it in his head. She forgot that she hadn't told him, it wasn't exactly something she bragged about.

Isobel looked like she was going to die, again. The color drained completely from her face and she was as stiff and still as a statue. "I—uh—um—I---have—to—uhm—go," she stumbled through her words then flew out the door.

"Adopted?" Damon questioned.

"I'll tell you all about it when I wake up." She mumbled, rolling over on her side and resting her head on Damon's shoulder. He didn't say anything else, he just pulled her closer into her arms and they both fell asleep.

* * *

"Morning," Damon whispered to Elena, kissing the base of her neck as she woke up. It was around noon but he'd been awake for a while, just watching her sleep. Before she changed, he used to occasionally watch her sleep in her room that was around the time he realized she was more than just a puppet or a reincarnation of Katherine to him.

"Mmm, morning," Elena yawned. The light beaming in through the window at the other end of the room was piercing her eyes. She used her hand to shade her eyes a bit, but it wasn't helping much. "Ugh, my head is killing me."

Damon just chuckled to himself and leaned over the side of the bed, opened a little fridge he kept on his floor and took out a little coke bottle filled with blood.

"Here, drink this it'll help I promise," he handed her the bottle.

"What is it?" She asked, taking the bottle a little reluctantly.

"Think of it as. . . .cherry coke."

Elena just shrugged and opened the cop, her throat was burning like someone threw a lit match down her throat. She downed the whole bottle instantly and handed it back to him. It put out the fire a little and dulled her headache to a slightly tolerable rate but she still felt kind of edgy.

"Wait," she said, thinking about what she'd just done. "Who did I just drink?"

"Nobody important," he replied slyly.

"Damon," Elena demanded, giving him that stern look that said she knew he was hiding something.

"Just some random criminal," he shrugged, "I figured your morality complex wouldn't let you eat just anyone."

"You hunted down a criminal for me? That's really sweet in its own weird vampire way," she laughed.

Damon leaned in to kiss her but she stopped him.

"I probably have morning breath," she admitted with a hint of embarrassment.

"Nope, just another perk of the immortal." Without her stopping him this time he leaned in a kissed her softly and quickly.

"Come on," he started getting out of bed, "let's get some coffee to help that headache."

* * *

"Vampires, vampire, vampires," Jeremy muttered to himself as he searched through the abundance of folklores and myths on the Internet. Everything said pretty much the same thing: no sunlight, undead, feeds on humans. Everything but the Twilight stuff that was also mixed up in any kind of vampire search he could think of doing. Who knows what was true. Elena, Stefan, Damon, and Anna all came out during the daylight, so that myth had to be false. He'd seen the mind trick at work and the super speed, and the stake thing must be true because Anna was threatening Elena with it last night.

He was so deep in his research that when the doorbell rang he nearly fell out of his chair. Minimizing the windows he had on his screen, he went down stairs to answer the door.

"Hello—Bonnie?" He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw her standing there.

"Is Elena here?" Bonnie looked completely frazzled. Her hair was a mess, she had mascara streaming down her face, her clothes were covered in mud and dirt, she was a complete wreck.

"Are you, uhm," he tried to swallow his fear, "one of them?"

"One of what, Jeremy?" She was irritated with him exactly, but she sounded like she was. What she had to talk to Elena about was very very _very_ time sensitive and she didn't have time for mind games with Jeremy.

"A vampire," he spit out, trying not to think, at all.

"How do you know about that?" Bonnie was pretty certain that Elena had been doing everything she could to keep Jeremy blind to all the crazy vampire junk.

"Well the vampire showdown in my living room last night preeetty much exposed everything." Sarcastic bitterness laced every word he said. "So are you one of them, too?"

"No," Bonnie replied firmly. She was proud of being a witch, and just a witch. The vampire thing still made her skin crawl. "But if I don't get to Elena and tell her what happened soon---we're going to have a serious infestation."

The horror was right on the surface of her eyes, mapped out all over her face.

"She went home with Damon last night," he felt a slight big of guilt now for sending his own sister away.

"Great, thanks," Bonnie gave him a quick smile and then took off down the steps.

Jeremy stood there blankly watching her for a minute until he came back to his senses.

"Wait," he called after her, closing the door behind him as he stepped outside. "I'm coming with you."

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Elena asked sheepishly as she sipped at her coffee. Damon was in the kitchen making himself a cup and she was sitting on the couch in the living room. The light wasn't bugging her eyes as much any more, and thankfully the coffee was warming her up from inside out. But something else was picking at her now.

"You just did," Damon joked, taking a seat right beside her.

"Why me?"

Damon stared at her blankly for a second, not really sure what she was asking. Why'd he change her? It was an accident. Why'd he pick to be with her, maybe?

"Isn't it obvious," he answered, making it more of a statement than a question.

"I mean, for as long as I've known you its always been about Katherine. What changed, or. . . I don't know I'm probably not making sense." She felt like an idiot for even asking, but she regretted not investigating the Katherine issue more when she first found out about it with Stefan.

"You're not Katherine," he simply replied. He knew her question didn't mean was she a poor mans Katherine, it was why her over Katherine. The truth was that he knew why he just didn't think he could vocalize it and do it justice.

"Caroline isn't Katherine, neither is Bonnie or Vikki," Elena pointed out, trying not to turn this into a fight but she just needed to know.

"But none of them are _you_," he said lovingly. "You're everything Katherine wasn't. See you're making me sound stupidly cheesy, but we've got something _real_. I didn't realize till I was looking at her again that all we were was compulsion. And that is the end of my sappy romance movie talk."

"I appreciate your step out of character," Elena laughed, she was extremely pleased with everything he said. It made her all the more confident with her choice. "So what's on the agenda for today?" She didn't give him a chance to answer though. As she was talking she was pulling him closer to her until there was no distance between their mouths and he was almost on top of her. She couldn't get enough of kissing him and hoped it would stay that way. There was electricity there when their skin touched and it was addicting.

The bell ringing echoed through the house startled both Elena and Damon.

"Of course," Damon said while getting off of the couch where he didn't want to leave for quiet some time. He made his way over to the door to see exactly who was disturbing them now.

"Damon, we have a situation," the sheriff immediately shot out the moment Damon opened the door. He was taken back at first, it'd been a while since she had come to him for something, but he quickly composed himself probably before she even noticed.

"What happened?" He didn't even have to pull out his fake confused face, although it was pretty impressive.

"May I come in?" She asked mainly in fear of people around hearing what she had to say.

"Oh of course, come on in." He opened the door wide for her, gave a quick look around outside just with his eyes then closed the door. "Can I get you some coffee or water?"

"No thanks I'm---oh hello Elena. I didn't expect to see you here," she gave Elena an unwelcoming leery glance. Elena just smiled weakly and sunk into the couch, she was worried that her, although slight changes, might be noticed.

"Can we speak in private?" The sheriff whispered to Damon, not knowing that Elena could hear her perfectly.

Damon just nodded and ushered her into the kitchen that way Elena could hear everything but the sheriff wouldn't think she could.

"What's this all about?" He asked once they were in the kitchen.

"I'm afraid we're going to need your assistance again. Just last night there were reports of at least 8 different reports of 'animal attacks.'" She knew Damon would understand that she meant they were vampire attacks.

Damon's eyes got wide, there was no way Pearl would have attacked 8 people just last night. She was starved but not that starved, and she wasn't stupid. "I---don't understand. I thought we got rid of them all." Damon was positive he completely whipped the memory of his two attacks last night, Stefan had his own diet, and Elena was in his arms all night.

In the living room Elena heard someone knocking on the door so she stopped listening to Damon and the sheriff and answered the door.

Bonnie and Jeremy stood before her looking more panicked than she'd even seen either of them in her life. They didn't leave her mentally questioning for long though.

"Katherine's not dead, and neither are the other's in the tomb. Well—they _were_ in the tomb," Bonnie said in one breath.

* * *

**For those of you who watched it last night---that episode made me cry! I'm now more than ever on Damon's side. **


	9. Chapter Nine: Too Much Too Soon

"That's impossi—" Elena started to explain before she remembered who was in the kitchen. "That's impossible, Damon killed Katherine. And I was told everyone else in the tomb was dead," she whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Bonnie asked.

"Sheriff Forbes is in my kitchen." Elena peaked around the corner to see if they were walking out. When she didn't see anyone coming she stepped outside and closed the door softly behind her. Jeremy backed up when Elena came out, he was still uneasy around her. "Explain."

"I was walking home last night, after we got out of the tomb, and I saw them in the streets. Killing people, _innocent people_," tears were welling up in Bonnie's eyes, both out of fear and grief. "So I ran to Grams, but Katherine stopped me. I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating. She kept asking me where Damon was, she tried compelling it out of me but I've been putting the vervain you gave me in everything I drink for weeks so it didn't work."

"Vervain?" Jeremy repeated. He was still very much out of the loop.

"It's an herb," Elena responded, "that bracelet I gave you a while ago, its got some in it. I don't know why, but it disables a vampires compulsion."

"What do we do Elena?" Bonnie pleaded. She was freaking out completely, she knew the vervain she had protected her but her concern was mostly for her friends and family and everyone who didn't have any protection. "They could be anywhere."

"Not right now," Elena assured. "Katherine was the only one left in the tomb with the ability to walk in the sun. They rest of them probably burned up at sunrise."

"Or they ran back to the tomb," Bonnie glumly added. She didn't mean to be the pessimist, but she didn't want to leave any possibilities unexposed.

"Katherine could be anywhere right now, though," Elena couldn't help but look around her every few minutes. Her new senses should probably let her know if someone was sneaking up on them, but Katherine was older and stronger than her. Everyone, so it seemed, was older and stronger than her.

"Do you eat people?" Jeremy blurted out.

"What?! No!" Elena was appalled and startled by his acquisition.

"Are you going to?" Jeremy had been bottling up these questions all night throughout his research.

"No!"

"Do all of _you guys_ not eat people?" he already knew the answer to this though.

"Well. . .," Elena got a little squeamish in answering this one. She desperately didn't want her brother to reject her or fear her. "Some of them do."

"So why don't you eat people?"

"Jeremy!" This time both Elena and Bonnie chimed in together.

"Sorry," he said, throwing up his hands. "I've been in the dark about this stuff for—however long its been going on."

"Just know that you're safe around me, Jeremy. I'd never ever even consider the thought of hurting you," Elena said reassuringly. Jeremy gave her an accepting nod and Elena felt like she could cry with happiness. She just wanted to throw her arms around him and suck him into a sisterly hug, but she didn't want to push things.

"Now that _that's_ all cleared up," Bonnie said irritated at the diversion, "what do we do?"

"I don't know. The Sheriff knows," Elena admitted.

"The whole _town_ knows, Elena," Bonnie corrected.

"Well, so far it seems like sheriff thinks Damon is the male Buffy," Elena chuckled at the irony. "So it's like we've got an inside man, kind of."

"Wait—all the animal attacks, were they really vampire attacks?" Jeremy questioned.

"Pretty much, yeah. The police thought they had everything under control and didn't want the town to make the news and the freak town who bit too hard on the Twilight craze," Elena decided that she wasn't going to shield Jeremy from any information any more.

"And Vikki--," Elena felt her heart drop when he said her name. She couldn't tell him she was dead, she just couldn't. "Was she changed or something? Is she still here?"

Elena and Bonnie exchanged a look, both wondering if he could handle it.

"No," Elena said dryly, "she's really gone." It wasn't a total lie, just not completely the whole truth.

* * *

"I guess I'll be seeing you tonight then," Damon said to sheriff Forbes as she left. He waved to her as she got in her car and then closed the door and turned to Bonnie, Elena, and Jeremy who were sitting in the living room.

"So, it looks like we've got ourselves a bit of a problem," he said to everyone in the living room as he jumped over the couch and plopped himself down next to Elena. "Apparently, last night—"

"A bunch a ravenous vampires attack like everyone," Bonnie finished for him, showing him that he didn't need to go into it all, they already knew.

"Awesome, glad you guys already know," he turned his attention to Jeremy who was sitting uncomfortable across from him, "Wanna play some video games? We could have a rematch of last time."

"I don't think so," Jeremy replied timidly. He was still pretty weary of Damon and well, all the vampires.

"Why is it so weird that _I'm_ a vampire? You were excited that we really existed when you first found out." Damon questioned. If anything Jeremy should be happy Damon was a vampire, or maybe that wasn't the case at all. "Or is it that I'm dating your sister? 'Cause that would be understandable."

"Damon," Elena laughed, elbowing him in the side for putting her brother on the spot.

"Whaaat? It's a good question," He defended himself and retaliated by tickling Elena's sides.

"Damon!" Bonnie's voice was withered and worn but that didn't stop her from demanding attention. "We've got bigger issues at hand, like rogue vampires on the loose."

"They're all probably hiding in the tomb until nightfall, relax," Damon said smoothly, still pinning Elena down on the couch from the tickling war he initiated.

"What about Katherine?" Elena blurted out, forgetting that she hadn't told him the news. She was actually pretty hesitant on wanting to tell him, even after all he said and did there was still a chance he was going to change his mind.

"She's probably in the tomb too, dead—where I left her," Damon answered coldly. He was trying not to let it show, but the Katherine talk was driving him crazy. That part of him, the Katherine era—or error as he saw it now—is over and he was set in his mind that he wasn't going back. So it'd be nice if everyone would just shut up about her.

"No, she's not," Bonnie tried to say as gently as she could. "She's not dead, well not completely dead."

"That's impossible, I drove a stake threw her heart—or where one should have been," he said with a sense of proudness.

"Apparently not good enough," Bonnie shot back at him, "she stopped me last night one my way home, she was trying to find you and your brother." She gave Elena an apologetic look, Bonnie didn't like Damon but Elena was her best friend. Secretly Bonnie hoped Elena would make Damon into a better person, vampire.

"Who's Katherine?" Jeremy asked openly to anyone willing to tell him. It seemed like everyone had forgotten that he just dove head first into all this mess, and most everything was still left uncovered.

"Ex-bitch I thought I took care of," Damon quickly informed Jeremy, not really caring to elaborate. He saw in Elena's face that she was worried he was going to go back on his choice. There's no way he'd do that, not now. If Katherine was alive then he'd just have to stake her again, and make sure it worked.

Everyone was silent for a while, wondering what next. Damon let go of Elena and just collapsed on to her, using her as his own personal pillow. She seemed to take that as a good sign and smiled for the first time since she heard Katherine was alive again. Bonnie kept fidgeting in her seat, obviously uneasy with everything going on. Jeremy just sat there like a statue, taking everything in.

"So how do we find her?" Bonnie finally said, breaking the silence.

"Well, she's probably hiding somewhere till nightfall," Damon muttered. He was getting bored with all the serious talk now.

"I thought she could walk in the sun like you and Stefan," Bonnie said making it sound somewhat like a question.

"She could," Damon said, holding up Elena's hand, "Until I gave Elena her ring."

"We should go down to this tomb now then, and kill them while they're hiding," Jeremy suggested, trying to be in the conversation rather than just the third wheel little brother.

"Walk into a closed space of freshly fed vampires? Right, because being out numbered is a great advantage," Damon said, dismissing the idea completely. "We'll wait till they all come out and get them individually."

"They could hurt more people if we wait," Elena brought forth.

"And if we go in there now, we'll all die and nobody will be left to defend the town. Besides, we're gonna need more people," Damon said while sitting up. "Jeremy, call Anna and tell her what's going on, then go with Bonnie to find Stefan." He got up off the couch completely, walked into the kitchen and came back with two stakes. "The sun's going down, so take these." He handed them to Bonnie and Jeremy. "We'll all meet at Elena's."

"What about us?" Elena asked.

"We are going to make some calls," he responded, waving his phone at her.

"I'll walk you guys out," Elena said to Bonnie and Jeremy.

It was almost completely dark out when they went outside. That alone made everyone pretty uneasy.

"Call me the minute you get home okay?" Elena said to both Bonnie and Jeremy. By home she meant her house, and she was praying they got back safely.

"We'll be—did you hear that?" Bonnie quick turned to look around responding to a rustling sound she heard. Elena and Jeremy both stared at her blankly. "It was probably just the wind," she dismissed.

Elena gave her a little nod and then turned to Jeremy. "Jeremy, I'm sorry I kept all this from you, I just—"

"Don't worry about it," he was finally coming out of this statue like coma, "You were just trying to protect me and be a good sister." He still wouldn't give her a hug or come in physical contact with her at all, but they both kind of knew that eventually he'd fully come around. He and Bonnie got into her car and quickly drove away.

Elena watched them until they were out of sight, making sure nothing happened to them, and then she went back into the house. Inside she found Damon just lying on the couch, not making the calls or anything he said he needed to do.

"What are you doing?" She asked, walking up to the back of the couch.

"Come here, I've gotta show you something," he said mischievously. They didn't have any calls to make that was all just something he said to get everyone out for a while.

"What is it?" she asked, already coming around the couch.

"Just come here," he said again. As she came closer he pulled her down on top of him, smiled and started kissing her, like he'd been waiting do to since they woke up.

"This is the phone calls we need to make?" Elena laughed.

"Sheriff Forbes is probably going to call in an hour, and everyone who could interrupt is at your house," there was a spark in his eye that Elena picked up on, it immediately gave away his intentions.

Before she could say anything, Damon's mouth was right back on hers, he didn't want to waste any time any more. If they got interrupted again he might go completely mad.

* * *

"Hello?" Jeremy said while opening the door. "Elena? I was just about to call you, what are you doing here?"

"Is Damon here?" Katherine asked. She'd borrowed some modern day clothes from the boys sister she snacked on last night, and followed Jeremy from the Salvatore boarding house back to here. She didn't really care where Damon was, her target now was Elena—and apparently this was her brother.

"No, he was supposed to get here with you."

"Oh, right," this fit perfectly into her plan, "we split up to cover more ground, he said he'd meet me here." She was just guessing that they were out looking for the loose vampires, Elena seemed like a caring girl who probably valued the lives of her poor townsfolk.

"Oh, okay. We'll get in here, you don't know who could be out there listening," Jeremy opened the door wide for her to come in.

"Exactly, you don't know who is out there," Katherine repeated with an evil inner smile as she stepped into the house.


End file.
